Objective: To evaluate the occurrence of mutations of androgen receptor (AR) gene in patients with isolated cryptorchidism.
Design: Controlled clinical study.
Setting: Yamagata University Hospital, Yamagata and Tokyo Electric Power Company Hospital, Tokyo, Japan.
Patient(s): Patients with isolated cryptorchidism (n = 48) and a control group of men with normal phenotype (n = 20).
Intervention(s): Blood (lymphocyte DNA).
Main outcome measure(s): Screening of the AR gene in exons 1-8 using single-strand conformational polymorphism analysis.
Result(s): No abnormal band patterns were detected in patients with cryptorchidism or in control subjects within the eight exons of the AR gene.
Conclusion(s): AR gene alterations appear to be an unlikely cause of isolated cryptorchidism.